Poster Abstracts for New Perspectives 2005, June 9-11
| Poster entrant | Abstract of poster: |
| Jesse Chvojka |
MINERvA is a high statistics neutrino scattering experiment slated to be
running in 2008 in the NuMI near hall. By studying neutrino
interactions in the 1-20 GeV region with a detector capable of resolving
exclusive final states, we will reduce systematic uncertainties for
neutrino oscillation experiments.
|
| Ulysses Grundler |
We present a measurement of the ttbar production cross section in 194
pb^{-1} of CDF Run 2 data using events with a high transverse momentum
electron or muon, three or more jets, and missing E_T. Events consistent with
ttbar decay are found by identifying jets containing candidate heavy-flavor
semileptonic decays to muons. Backgrounds are computed from a combination of Run
2 data and simulation. Signal acceptance is determined from Run 2 ttbar
PYTHIA Monte Carlo. Based on 20 candidate events with 3 or more jets and an
expected background of 9.5 +/- 1.1 events, a production cross section of
5.3 +/- 3.3^{+1.3}_{-1.0} {pb} is measured.
|
| Dharmaraj Indurthy |
The NuMI beamline and the MINOS experiment studies the oscillation of muon
neutrinos and provides a precision measurement of the oscillation parameters.
Pions produced from the interaction of the 120 GeV FNAL Main Injector proton beam
with a graphite target decay to yield neutrinos. Ion chamber arrays have been built
to monitor the resulting muons from pion decays and remnant hadrons at the end of the
NuMI decay pipe. The arrays measure both the intensity and the lateral profile of the
muon and hadron beams, allowing studies of sytematics of the neutrino beam. We will
describe the design, construction, and calibration of the ion chamber arrays. Initial
data from commissioning of the beam line and experience from operations will be presented.
|
| Dennis Lamenti |
The objective of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is to survey one
quarter of the entire sky. Using a wide-field imaging camera attached to
a 2.5-m telescope, the survey will produce images in five filters of
over 100 million astronomical objects such as stars, galaxies, and
quasars. An extension of SDSS has been proposed in part to search for
supernovae over the next three years. The search is done by scanning
over the same area of the sky every few days and comparing old images
(template) to new images (search image) and examining the difference
(subtracted image). Software is currently under development to process
the images and create a list of supernovae candidates. An evaluation of
the candidates is necessary to select a sub-set for follow up
spectroscopy. For this evaluation, we have developed a Java routine that
interfaces to a mySQL database of candidates, retrieves astronomical
image data saved in FITS format, and displays candidate images as
2-dimensional histograms via the Java AIDA interface. The routine
displays histograms of the template, search, and the subtracted images
in three filters. The routine can be easily modified to add plots as we
gain experience in what information is most useful. The routine has
been demonstrated on existing SDSS data, to discriminate between
candidates and artifacts.
|
| Alexandre Sousa |
The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search long baseline
experiment utilizes the NuMI neutrino beam, measuring the neutrino
signal 1 km downstream from production and 734 km later with similar
Near and Far planar steel/scintillator detectors, located at Fermilab
and at the Soudan mine respectively. With installation and commissioning
phases completed, MINOS is now the longest baseline neutrino experiment
running with the highest power neutrino beam in existence. A general
overview of the experiment along with its proposed physics goals and
latest results is shown.
|
Presentation Abstracts for New Perspectives 2005, June 9-11
| Invited Speaker | Abstract of talk: |
| Steven Kahn |
In recent years, experiments devoted to astrophysical measurements are
playing an increasingly important role in forefront particle physics
research. I will discuss the reasons for this trend, and the
opportunities and challenges it brings to the field. I will highlight
some of the major "particle astrophysics" experimental initiatives
which are just getting started now, and where this field might be
heading in the future. |
| Speaker | Abstract of talk: |
| Alexis Aguilar-Arevalo |
With the start-up of the NuMI beamline earlier this year,
the MiniBooNE detector has the unique opportunity to be the first user of an
off-axis neutrino beam (111 mrad off axis). MiniBooNE has observed
neutrinos comming from this source and is assembling a rich sample of
neutrino interactions. Some of the first comparisons with
expectations and possible applications to MiniBooNE are discussed. |
| Georgios Choudalakis |
We have developed a systematic approach to the analysis of frontier
energy collider data that aims to maximize the chance for discovery before the turn
on of the LHC. This talk introduces the key ideas and relative merits of
this effort, touching briefly on the highlights of the underlying
algorithms. |
| James Degenhardt |
TeV and Limits on Anomalous WWZ Couplings
We present results from a search for WZ production with subsequent
decay to l nu l'-bar l' (l and l'=electron or muon) using 0.30 fb^(-1)
of data collected by the DO experiment between 2002 and 2004 at the
Tevatron. Three events with WZ decay characteristics are observed. With
an estimated background of 0.71+-0.08 events, we measure the WZ
production cross section to be 4.5 (+3.8 -2.6) pb, with a 95% C.L.
upper limit of 13.3 pb. The 95% C.L. limits for anomalous WWZ couplings
are found to be -2.0 < Delta kappa_Z < 2.4 for form factor scale Lambda
= 1 TeV, and -0.48 < lambda_Z < 0.48 and -0.49 < Delta g_1^Z < 0.66 for
Lambda = 1.5 TeV. |
| Shrihari Gopalakrishna |
Recent experiments suggest that neutrinos have a tiny mass - about a
million times lighter than the electron. How can we explain such a tiny
mass in a theoretically appealing way? What, if any, are its
experimental consequences at accessible energies? Are neutrinos Dirac or
Majorana particles? I will address these questions in the context of our
currently favored theoretical idea - the Seesaw mechanism (Type I and
Type II), and discuss some of its experimental probes. |
| Khaldoun Makhoul |
TurboSim is a self-tuning detector simulation, applicable to any
frontier energy collider experiment, and able to tune itself to an
existing full simulation. It reduces the time cost of simulation hard
collisions by three or more orders of magnitude relative to the
simulations being used in currently running experiments. This time is
saved by storing the way in which the full simulation has treated several
million events already run through it, and not spending time
recalculating what happens in situations for which we already know the
answer.
A first implementation of TurboSim is complete. The results so far are
promising. Further work remains until it can be fully commissioned and
used at CDF and other HEP experiments. |
| Md Naimuddin |
Flavor tagging of B hadrons is crucial for the measurement of mixing in
the b-quark sector. Using approximately 460 pb^{-1} of data collected
with upgraded D0 detector in Run II of Fermilab Tevetron, we present
preliminary results on b flavor tagging using electrons. |
| Alexandre Y Rakitine |
The X(3827) dipion mass spectrum
is measured in 360 pb^-1
sample of p\bar{p} collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV collected
with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The similar
spectrum for the $\psi(2S)\to J/\psi\pi^+\pi^-$ decay is also
extracted.
The X(3827) dipion mass spectrum is found to be compatible
with the hypothesis $X(3872) \to J/\psi\rho^0$, $\rho \to \pi^+\pi^-$.
For the $\psi(2S)$ the data agrees well with previously published results
and to the multipole expansion calculations for $^3S_1$ charmonium.
We conclude that if X is a charmonium, it should be either
$1^1D_{2^{-+}}$ or $2^3\!P_{1^{++}}$ state, decaying into
$J/\psi\pi^+\pi^-$ with non-conservation of isospin. A non-charmonium
assignment, such as $D\overline D^*$ molecule, is also quite possible. |
| Alexandre Sousa |
With construction and commissioning phases completed,
MINOS enters an exciting new chapter. The current status of MINOS is
presented along with an overview of the experiment and the first beam
data. |
| Mikko Voutilainen | The speaker will review inclusive jet cross secton results from
DZERO's Run I data taking period. The motivation for repeating this
measurement in Run II at a higher center-of-mass energy with a larger
integrated luminosity data sample will be discussed. Then preliminary
Run II inclusive jet results, including comparisons to QCD theoretical
predictions, will be presented.
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